Respecting the Rules
by T.L. Lee
Summary: Emmett is the newest member of the Cullen family and he's having a hard time following the rules. Carlisle is at a loss in what to do with the defiant newborn. Can Emmett's previous human life gives him the clue he needs to rein the boy in? Contains the disciplinary spanking of a vampire.
1. Chapter 1

_Twilight_ is the property of Stephenie Myer, I'm just borrowing.

**Warning: This is a discipline fic and contains the non-sexual spanking of a vampire. If you find the idea of corporal punishment, when applied to the backside of a fictional character, too much trauma for your psyche, please turn back now.**

"_I had a bit more trouble with the rules…" -Emmett Cullen_

This is in Emmett's own words, explaining to Bella his early years with the Cullens. The conversation takes place in "Emmett and the Bear" an outtake of _Twilight._

_Chapter One: The Newest Cullen_

They probably should have left Appalachia months ago. However with a volatile newborn, barely 6 months old, Carlisle felt that staying in relative seclusion would be safer. The nearest populated town was over 100 miles away and they didn't dare go there for a number of reasons. He had already resigned his position at the local hospital, giving the vague explanation of "family issues." The excuse was closer to the truth than Dr. Cullen would have liked. Their newest edition to the family was more of a handful than he expected. Having changed Edward decades ago, and then Esme and Rosalie, Carlisle thought he had a handle on this newborn thing. However, nothing could have prepared him for the destructive force that was his newest creation: Emmett.

Most times, the boy was a complete joy. Of all of the vampires he sired, Emmett had the least trouble with what he had become. There was none of the grief or anger that Carlisle had experienced with the previous three. The adjustment period for Emmett to come to terms with his new lot in life had been short lived. To Emmett's thinking, he got to live forever with his angel, Rosalie, and he got the added bonus of being stronger, faster, and more powerful than he ever could have imagined.

He was an affectionate young man, prone to hugging for just about any reason that came to mind. He was quick to smile and his booming laughter was infectious. Carlisle sat back in his desk chair, looking out the window at the forest beyond their home. Where it had taken Edward years to address him as anything other than Carlisle, Emmett had started calling him Dad within weeks. Carlisle had to admit to himself, the boy was easy to love and just as he had Rosalie and Edward, the man considered Emmett to be one of his children. Carlisle also had to admit, the boy was frustrating beyond belief.

Carlisle had very few rules for his coven, his family. To his way of thinking, rules boiled down to one key word; respect. Respect themselves and all members of the family. The patriarch wasn't looking for blind obedience and they all understood that their opinions on everything were valued, but on the issue of respect, he would never waiver.

Respect encouraged honesty. He would never lie to them and he insisted the same in return.

Respect ensured their safety in the family. While bickering was to be expected, no member of the family could attack another.

Respect protected the coven and those around them. The choice they made to follow Carlisle's path meant that they respected the choice to abstain from human blood. Mistakes happened and Carlisle accepted that. Too many mistakes could draw the attention of the Volturi and that could mean their destruction.

Thus far, his philosophy of respect had worked fairly well with Edward and Rosalie and, of course, Esme. His beloved doted on the two of them as if she gave birth to them. There were some times of discord, of course, and they didn't always get along, but instances of ignoring the respect rule were few and far between. In those moments, usually all it took was a family talk, once everyone had calmed down. He'd never had cause to exact any punishment on either of his children, and truthfully, Carlisle wouldn't have known what to do if he did have cause.

That brought him back to Emmett.

For the first time in nearly five decades, his one rule didn't seem sufficient. Emmett, for all his affection, could be surprisingly unruly. Part of that was the result of being a newborn and part of that was just his nature. Newborns were erratic, and their unquenchable desire for blood made them hard to control. Emmett was not allowed to hunt without at least three members of the family accompanying him. On more than one occasion, it took all four of them to bring him down once he caught the scent of human blood. Carlisle had to be so much more cautious with Emmett than when any of the others were newborn.

It just wasn't his uncontrollable thirst that caused problems. If it was merely that, then Carlisle would be fine. Emmett was just prone to doing what he wanted, when he wanted, regardless of what anyone said. Carlisle thought back to three months ago when Emmett had disappeared without warning for nearly two days. After searching and not finding him, the family thought the worse. Emmett had abandoned their way and gone on his own. Rosalie was inconsolable. She couldn't understand how he could just leave her. To their surprise, the boy returned home two days later, sheepishly explaining that he had started running and didn't stop until he'd been well into Canada.

Vampire speed was a still a novelty to him and he was just testing it out. Emmett admitted that there was an incident with a human just passed the Canada/US border. Carlisle was understanding, but tried to explain to Emmett that this was why he could not go off on his own and Emmett blew up at him. It took an hour and the destruction of most of their furniture before he calmed down. Even afterwards, Emmett was apologetic for his temper, but not for his lack of foresight in running off. _Agree to disagree, Dad_, was his way of blowing Carlisle off.

And not a week ago, Emmett had an argument with Edward and stormed off while Esme and Carlisle had been away, spending some much needed alone time together. Carlisle returned home and was about to look for him when his son appeared out of the forest looking somewhat scared. When pressed, he told his father that he'd come across another vampire. In Emmett's already agitated state, a fight ensued. His son, being a newborn, was stronger, and he was able to quickly dispatch the other, but even Emmett had been startled and afraid of his own ferocity. Carlisle hoped that this would be the turning point and used the experience to remind Emmett just why they kept him on such a short leash. For a moment, Carlisle thought he was getting through to him, but just as quickly he realized that Emmett had tuned him out. His lecture fell on deaf ears and the incident was pushed aside.

And the elder had let the issue drop, unresolved. He hoped that Emmett's unruliness would resolve itself with time and patience but Carlisle wasn't very optimistic. The problem was, if he was being honest with himself, that he had no idea what to do about it. The doctor was a little out of his element with this one. If reasoning didn't work, what would? If he chose to punish the boy, what could he possibly do? He could never ask Emmett to leave or physically harm his son, as other coven leaders would. He could give his son extra chores, but Carlisle failed to see how that would help Emmett understand what he was doing wrong. He certainly didn't think it would motivate him to change.

His only option was to continue as he'd been doing and hope that sooner rather than later, Emmett would see reason. Edward had his rebellious years and Rosalie had been downright caustic for the first year of her transformation. Even Esme had a period of depression and self-loathing.

_Hell_, Carlisle thought. _You tried to kill yourself._

All of them came around with time. This was just Emmett's way of adjusting to his new circumstances.

Carlisle rubbed his forehead with one hand and took in the darkening sky. It looked to be a nice storm brewing just to the east, which suited Carlisle just fine. They had plans to go hunting, and the storm would keep hikers from straying into the woods. These were the kinds of precautions he was taking now. With a weary sigh, he pushed his chair back from the desk and got to his feet.

"We are going hunting in five minutes." He said this quietly, but he knew anyone in the house would be able to hear him. He personally didn't need to hunt, as they had just been hunting two days ago. Carlisle would just enjoy spending time with his wife while the children hunted.

Coming out of his study, he nearly ran into Rosalie and was surprised to find her alone.

"Where is Emmett? I assumed he would be with you."

His daughter shook her head. "He's outside with Edward." She rolled her eyes. "Something about needing male bonding time."

Carlisle smiled faintly. "It is good to see him getting along with your brother." Edward's limited patience and Emmett's endless energy could sometimes cause issue.

Rosalie shrugged. Apparently, she didn't seem to find their bonding as reassuring as Carlisle.

"Dad." Edward's quiet voice drew Carlisle's attention at the bottom of the stairs. The patriarch noticed a confused and worried look on Edward's face. "Emmett isn't with me. I haven't seen him all afternoon. And…" He paused, listening intently, Carlisle knew, for his brother's thoughts. "I can't hear him either."

Carlisle turned back to Rosalie quickly and she held up her hands. "I'm not lying, I swear. He said…"

Esme joined Edward at the bottom of the stairs. "Why would he run off again? After what happened the last time?"

Frustrated, Carlisle shook his head and moved quickly down the stairs with Rosalie. "We have to find him before something happens."

"I can stay here just in case he returns," Esme volunteered. "The three of you go." Her eyes narrowed slightly in concern for her boy.

Carlisle nodded and kissed his wife's forehead, soothing the worry lines away. "We'll find him."

He motioned his two children and together they left the house in search of its newest, wayward member. They had been running for a few minutes, following Emmett's scent, when Edward spoke up.

"Carlisle," he said hesitantly. "We can't let him keep doing this. It's too dangerous." He ignored both the look and derogatory thought Rosalie sent his way. "He doesn't listen to anyone." The look and thoughts became more insulting and Edward huffed, before turning to his sister. "Do you _want_ to see him get hurt?"

Rosalie turned away from him. There were times she was glad that Edward was a telepath. The things she was thinking at Edward right now would not have made Carlisle happy.

"No one wants to see Emmett hurt, Edward," Carlisle said. He sighed. "And you're right. Something must be done."

Rosalie broke off insulting Edward and turned her attention to Carlisle. "Something?" She hissed.

Carlisle was not ready to deal with Rosalie's protectiveness, especially when he was not sure just what "something" entailed. "Edward is right, Rosalie. The more we…the more I ignore this, the worse it will become. I see that now." He put the responsibility for Emmett's continued defiance directly where it belonged; on his own shoulders. As the boy's father and coven leader, he was somehow not giving Emmett a reason to follow his lead. "One of these times he will get hurt. Even if he doesn't, we have a responsibility to the humans nearby. I can't put them in danger because Emmett wants to be disobedient."

"Disobedient?" Rosalie scoffed. "He's not a child."

"He's acting like one," Edward muttered and then rolled his eyes at the string of profanity his sister sent to him. "Guess it runs in the family." He suddenly pulled up short. "Wait!"

His father and sister stopped on a dime and then turned to him.

Edward was quiet for a moment. "He's close by." His eyes widened. "And he's not alone."


	2. Chapter 2

_Earlier that morning…_

Emmett McCarty kicked back on his bed and stared at his beloved angel as she tried on several different outfits for his approval. He murmured in appreciation, not so much for her taste in clothing, than for how that clothing looked both on and off her. He couldn't believe how lucky he was. When he first woke after his transformation six months ago, after an eternity of enduring searing pain, he was sure he'd died and gone to heaven. Emmett chuckled quietly at his own misconceptions. He had been certain that the venom coursing painfully through his body had been the very fires of hell and that Rosalie had been an angel left by God to watch over him. Although why God had let an angel stay in hell he couldn't answer.

Emmett was shocked when he woke and was told that he hadn't died, that he had been changed into a vampire and that he would live as a pseudo immortal with his angel; his angel, the lovely Rosalie. He had also been shocked that "God" was not God, but his creator and now leader, Carlisle. It was Emmett's style to roll with the punches and this punch, while shocking, had been a good thing. How could he not love the virtually unlimited speed and power associated with being a vampire? The burning in his throat sucked big time, and the steady diet of animals never did get rid of it, but Emmett followed in line with Carlisle's reasoning. After all, he had been human once. How would he have felt if some vampire had made him his snack? It was bad enough that a bear had tried. Besides, the good far outweighed the bad.

"Em?" Rosalie's voice broke through his thoughts. "Did you hear me?"

Her mate's gaze snapped up to her with his trademark grin. "Sorry, Rose. I was appreciating the view." In truth, his own thoughts had been distracting him. He had been watching the fashion show for nearly an hour now and one set of clothing blended in with the other.

If Rosalie suspected that he was lying through his teeth, she didn't let on. If there was one thing Rose could take, it was a compliment. She returned the smile and sauntered over to him. "You can appreciate the view better from closer up, don't you think?" She straddled his hips and leaned into kiss him.

"Hmm." Emmett returned the kiss passionately, happily distracted again from his own thoughts. He reached for her to pull her down more closely, but Rosalie put her hand against his chest and pushed him down, causing Emmett to blink up at her in confusion.

Rose smiled. "We're going hunting soon."

Emmett just stared at her, his brain having been turned off in favor of a more pressing concern even as Rosalie swung her legs around and stood up. "Don't start something you can't finish," she continued.

"You started it!" Emmett sighed in exasperation. "Tease."

His mate's laugh only further irritated him. "Later," she said definitively pulling yet another outfit from her closet. Rose looked over her shoulder at Emmett and smiled. She loved Emmett with all her heart, and went through her own personal hell when she'd carried him to Carlisle. It had taken everything in her not to answer her own instincts and drain the blood that had been left by the bear. But there was something about Emmett that had called to her; something other than the boy's blood. She couldn't change him herself, she didn't think she'd have the control. So, Rose had carried Emmett a hundred miles and begged Carlisle to save him and they'd been together ever since.

Even through all of that, some part of Rosalie was cautious. Given her own near death and transformation, some parts of her just could not relinquish complete control of her sexuality over to Emmett. She trusted him. She loved him, but a part of her needed the reassurance that she could say no, and Emmett would honor that answer. Not that she said no often. In the last six months, Emmett had become a serious addiction and more than once Esme had threatened to throw them out if they broke one more wall.

Satisfied that Emmett wouldn't attack her from behind, Rosalie went back to her closet. She heard him give a little whine of frustration before he leapt from the bed.

Emmett couldn't sit still now. He had some excess energy that needed burning and sitting here staring at Rose in various stages of undress wouldn't help. "I'm going to see what Eddie's doin," he announced heading for the door.

"He's on his piano." She could hear the notes floating up the stairs. She wasn't very knowledgeable about music and even less so about what Edward did, but it sounded like a new composition. "I doubt he's going to want to do anything." Her brother was very single minded when he started composing.

"Like I'm goin to give him a choice." Emmett grinned and left the room in search of Edward. Wrestling with his brother and father was a favorite past time. He flexed his muscles in anticipation. Emmett knew that as a newborn he was stronger than any other member of his family, and he was careful. Well, he was careful now. A few months earlier he had been wrestling around with Edward and nearly tore his brother's leg off. It had been a complete accident, but it showed Emmett was venom was capable of healing. It also showed him what he was capable of doing.

Since then, the only time Emmett had lost control was when some rogue vampire had attacked him. Emmett had been angry with Edward and went hunting alone, when the male had confronted him. The solitary vampire had declared the forest his hunting grounds and Emmett was trespassing, which Emmett supposed he had been. The boy knew that he was supposed to stay with his family, but he had thrown caution to the wind and decided to hunt bigger game than was around their home at the time.

Emmett had traveled further south, chasing the scent of a black bear when the vampire had found him. Em had tried to explain that he wasn't encroaching on the vampire's hunting grounds. He wasn't even hunting humans. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best time to make that admission. The rogue had seen Emmett's choice of prey as a weakness and attacked him. Apparently, he wasn't anticipating that Emmett was a newborn and physically stronger than himself. One he was under attack, his instincts took over, and in a fit of rage, Emmett ripped the vampire apart.

Shocked at his own viciousness, Emmett ran home to the safety of his family as fast as he could. Carlisle had been understanding as usual and seemed thankful that his new son was alive. That didn't stop him from lecturing, oh no. Emmett sat at the dining room table for hours and listened to Carlisle drone on and on about how dangerous it was to go off on his own. There was still so much about being a vampire that Emmett didn't understand and dealing with others of their kind was one of them.

Emmett nodded in the right places and accepted Carlisle's reprimand with what he thought was just the right amount of contrition. But being safe in the dining room, removed from the incident by time and distance, Emmett convinced himself that it really wasn't as bad as his father was making it out to be. He had dealt with the situation. Case closed. Roll with the punches. However, Emmett had seen that he was testing the coven leader's patience and vowed to follow the rules, at least for a little while. No need to make Carlisle's blood pressure go up, or whatever it was that happened to vampires when they were stressed. Good thing the older man couldn't get grey hair.

He had been good for a week now. As a human and vampire that was probably a record for Emmett, but the strain was taking its toll and he needed to blow off some steam. He followed the sound of the piano to where his brother was and before Emmett could say one word, Edward responded.

"No."

Emmett stopped short and frowned. He hadn't even said anything, yet.

"You don't have to," Edward said changing a note on his music sheet. "Even if I couldn't read your mind, I'd know what you want. We just fixed the garage door from the last time you needed to blow off some steam. And as I recall, you still need to convince Rose to fix that massive dent in Mom's car door."

Emmett smirked. "You made the dent."

With a sigh, Edward shook his head. "You threw me into it. I told you we were getting too close to the house. Either way, I'm busy right now, Em."

Frustrating building, Emmett turned away. Maybe a nice run…

Edward turned away from his piano. "Don't do that, Emmett. We're going hunting later this afternoon." He refrained from reminding his brother that he wasn't allowed to leave. That sort of reminder only made Emmett angry.

Not for the first time, Emmett was annoyed with his brother's mind reading ability, but he'd been trying to think up ways around it, so now was a good time to test it out. He held up his hands. "Fine, fine. Don't get your big boy knickers in a bunch. I'll go back to Rose and watch her try on another two dozen skirts."

Edward's frowned, scanning his brother's mind for his true intentions and then rolled his eyes before turning back to the piano. "Sounds like fun." He kept his ability zeroed in on his brother's thoughts, even as he heard him going back up the stairs to his and Rose's room. He wanted to make sure that Emmett wouldn't leave.

Edward reached up again to change another note when Emmett's thoughts turned to Rosalie and…

Edward snapped the pen in half at the thoughts being fed to him through his brother's mind. Not just thoughts, but vivid mental images. "Oh, God. Gross. Emmett, please." He couldn't take it anymore and he blocked his brother to the best of his ability. Trying to gain some measure of equilibrium back, Edward grabbed another pen. There were just some things he didn't want to see or hear.

Rather than return to his own room, Emmett went straight to Edward's. He kept his thoughts and images in his head as X-rated as possible, knowing that his brother was keeping tabs on him. He laughed a little hearing Edward's groan. Figuring that would be enough to get Edward to block him, Emmett launched himself out of Edward's window. Just in case, and just for his own amusement, Emmett kept pummeling his brother with thoughts that he knew would make his prudish brother blush, vampire or no. Satisfied with his own brand of revenge, Emmett took off into the woods and to his latest adventure.


End file.
